1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antidiabetic agent containing a spherical carbon as an active ingredient and a method of treating diabetes using that antidiabetic agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
The affliction "diabetes" encompasses both (1) primary diabetes, which is mainly induced by hereditary causes and which primarily causes insulin deficiency, and (2) secondary diabetes, which is induced by acquired causes. A common symptom of the two types of diabetes is hyperglycemia, which causes complications such as neuropathy or retinopathy. As these complications progress, they result in deuteropathies such as serious infection, sudden death, blindness, heart failure, cerebral infarction, myocardial infarction, and the like. Therefore, sufficient care must be given to chronic complications.
Insulin and internal antidiabetics such as sulfonylurea agents and biguanide agents are conventionally used as antidiabetics.
However, insulin is completely ineffective when administered internally, and is nowadays clinically administered only as an injection, which is painful to the patient. In addition to the pain, there sometimes occur redness, swelling, induration, itching, and the like at the site of the injection. Further, repeated subcutaneous injections at the same site sometimes cause lipodystrophy such as atrophy or hypertrophy of subcutaneous fat. Hypoglycemia may also occur as a serious side effect of taking insulin. Specifically, sufficient care should be taken not to cause hypoglycemia due to over-injection. Careful administration is required for the patient or the condition which is liable to suffer from hypoglycemia.
The above internal antidiabetics cannot completely be substituted for insulin. For example, insulin is indispensable for, and the antidiabetics have no effect on, diabetic conditions such as diabetic coma, juvenile diabetes, diabetes with ketoacidosis and serious infection.
Medicines of the sulfonylurea agent group include tolbutamide, chlorpropamide, acetohexamide, tolazamide, glibenclamide, etc., all of which sometimes cause serious and delayed hypoglycemia and, thus, must be carefully administered.
Medicines of the biguanide agent group include buformin, metformin, etc., which sometimes cause serious lactic acidosis or hypoglycemia and, thus, must be carefully administered.